Following up what John writes: Knowing the actual situation I find it
extremely likely that practically all the 50+ documents are found in five or
fewer libraries. Except for Inari Sami and Skolt Sami I am convinced that
this is correct. Could Sten Hedberg confirm or check whether this asumption
is correct also for Inari Sami and Skolt Sami? (I know that you are in
Sweden and the "real" experts in this particular detail are in mostly in
Finland, but you established contact with Finnish experts in the first
place.) There aren't "30 or 40 different libraries" to choose from...

Best regards,
Håvard

-------------------------
Håvard Hjulstad mailto:[log in to unmask]
  Solfallsveien 31
  NO-1430 Ås, Norway
  tel: +47-64944233 & +47-64963684
  mob: +47-90145563
  http://www.hjulstad.com/havard/
-------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of John Clews
Sent: 16. januar 2002 10:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sami languages


Milicent K Wewerka <[log in to unmask]> had written:

> I think a more exact count would be more in accord with the spirit
> of the rules. At least in theory, a union database might have 50
> documents in 30 or 40 different libraries. The rules imply that there
> should be a reasonable concentration of documents in specific
> locations.

in response to Håvard Hjulstad <[log in to unmask]> who had written:

> Sami languages are being taught and studied at a fairly limited
> number of universities and colleges in Norway, Sweden and Finland. A
> closer "count" would be possible, if the JAC should feel that this is
> necessary. Is it? Our rules do not state that any one library shall
> have 50 documents, but that the combined holdings shall be more than
> 50 (or am I completely mistaken?).

John Clews notes that

According to Annex A.2.1 (normative) of ISO 639-2, the standard says:

        ISO 639-2/RA shall receive and review applications for the
        registration of new language codes and for the change of
        existing ones. It shall suggest an assignment of a code when
        the relevant criteria are met according to the rules given in
        A.3.3 and A.3.4, and inform the applicant of the result of
        ISO 639-2/RA actions. Such criteria shall include a request
        by one agency with 50 documents in the language or a request
        by five agencies with a total of 50 documents among them in
        the language.

Going by the letter of the standard, the ISO 639-2/RA is therefore
entitled to ask that the request represents either one agency with 50
documents in the language or a request by five agencies with a total
of 50 documents among them in the language.

It's therefore possible that less than five agencies may still have
50 documents among them, in which case the ISO 639-2/RA could quite
legitimately turn down that request on those grounds alone, again
going by the letter of the standard.

It's also worth noting in passing, that there are several languages
which are included in ISO 639-2 before publication, and which did not
need to be reviewed by the registration authority per se, would have
had great difficulty in somebody assessing the 50 documents
specification, and may not have got into the standard if they had
been subjected to the same criteria.

Best regards

John Clews

--
John Clews,
Keytempo Limited (Information Management),
8 Avenue Rd, Harrogate, HG2 7PG
Email: [log in to unmask]
tel: +44 1423 888 432;

Committee Member of ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC22/WG20: Internationalization;
Committee Member of ISO/TC37/SC2/WG1: Language Codes